Helion Energy has announced that Microsoft will become its first customer, in a deal that aims to supply 50 MW of fusion power by 2028.
Assembled electromagnetic coils that will be used in Helion’s 7th fusion prototype, Polaris. (Photo: Business Wire)
Helion Energy is a privately held fusion energy company founded in 2013 by Dr. David Kirtley and Dr. John Slough, both of whom are experts in plasma physics. The company is headquartered in Washington, USA, and is focused on developing a practical, clean, and abundant source of fusion energy.
Scientists have been dreaming about nuclear fusion for decades. Microsoft thinks the technology is nearly ready to plug into the grid.
Microsoft just signed a jaw-dropping agreement to purchase electricity from a nuclear fusion generator. Nuclear fusion, often called the Holy Grail of energy, is a potentially limitless source of clean energy that scientists have been chasing for the better part of a century.
A company called Helion Energy thinks it can deliver that Holy Grail to Microsoft by 2028. It announced a power purchase agreement with Microsoft this morning that would see it plug in the world’s first commercial fusion generator to a power grid in Washington.
“I would say it’s the most audacious thing I’ve ever heard.”
Editor’s note: “Nuclear Power Breakthrough Makes “Limitless” Energy Possible” was previously published inDecember 2022. It has since been updated to include the most relevant information available.
For a moment, imagine a world of limitless energy – one where energy is so abundant that everyone can power their homes and businesses for mere pennies.
These days, it’s tough to imagine a world like that. Last winter, the average U.S. heating bill was $1,000.
TerraPower, founded by billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 2008, is opening a new nuclear power plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The plant will be the first of its kind, with the company hoping to revolutionize the nuclear energy industry in the U.S. to help fight climate change and support American energy independence.
“Nuclear energy, if we do it right, will help us solve our climate goals,” Gates told ABC News. “That is, get rid of the greenhouse gas emissions without making the electricity system far more expensive or less reliable.”
Gates met with ABC News’ chief business, economics, and technology correspondent Rebecca Jarvis in Kemmerer to talk about the project.
This is really for the general public — and for people new to fusion. I gave a 20 minute talk** to a local group in Pittsburgh. We decided to record the audio, and put it out on the web for other people to enjoy. The top Ten things you should know about fusion are:
10. We have Been Doing It For Years. 9. We Know How To Make It Work. 8. You Can Do Fusion At Home. 7. The US Really Funded Fusion For about 15 year. 6. There Is More Than One Method. 5. Fusion Startups Are Real. 4. We Need A Pipeline. 3. China Is Taking An Interest. 2. Superconductors Are Game Changers. 1. Climate Change Is Not Waiting.
** Edits: 1. When I say 8, I meant 9 2. To clarify: ENN is investing ~10 million to built a duplicate of Dr. Cohens’ machine over in China. They’ve staffed up over there.
Advancing Nuclear Energy Science And Technology For U.S. Energy, Environmental And Economic Needs — Dr. Katy Huff, Ph.D. — Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy.
Dr. Kathryn Huff, Ph.D. (https://www.energy.gov/ne/person/dr-kathryn-huff) is Assistant Secretary, Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, where she leads their strategic mission to advance nuclear energy science and technology to meet U.S. energy, environmental, and economic needs, both realizing the potential of advanced technology, and leveraging the unique role of the government in spurring innovation.
Prior to her current role, Dr. Huff served as a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Secretary and also led the office as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy.
Before joining the Department of Energy, Dr. Huff was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she led the Advanced Reactors and Fuel Cycles Research Group. She was also a Blue Waters Assistant Professor with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
Dr. Huff was previously a Postdoctoral Fellow in both the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium and the Berkeley Institute for Data Science at the University of California — Berkeley. She received her PhD in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Chicago. Her research focused on modeling and simulation of advanced nuclear reactors and fuel cycles.
Without a doubt someday it is possible to have fusion power plants providing sustainable energy resolving our long-standing energy problems. This is the main reason so many scientists throughout the world are carrying out research on this power source. The generation of power from this method actually mimics the sun.
In this video, Unveiled takes a closer look at the most exciting ways that physics will change the world during YOUR lifetime! We’re now SO CLOSE to making these incredible breakthroughs, but which will happen first? And which will have the greatest impact on life, the universe, and everything?
This is Unveiled, giving you incredible answers to extraordinary questions!
Stem cells (SCs) are undifferentiated cells which can proliferate indefinitely or differentiate into progenitor cells and end-phase differentiated cells (becoming pluripotent) (Mayo, 2021; Slack, 2022). Human embryonic SCs (hE-SCs) are found in the inner cell mass of the blastocyst; h E-SC research raises ethical concerns (Lo and Parham, 2009), and h E-SC transplantation in vivo can lead to the formation of large tumors called teratomas (Blum and Benvenisty, 2008).
Small numbers of adult SCs are found in some organ “niches”, including the bone marrow, where hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) replenish blood and immune cells. In 1958, Mathe et al. (1959) successfully performed the first adult SC therapy on five workers who had received high-dose accidental irradiation at the Vinca Nuclear Institute in Yugoslavia. After transfusions and grafts of homologous adult bone marrow, all workers survived (Mathe et al., 1959).
For years, the human umbilical cord was a waste material and, unlike h E-SCs, its use does not raise ethical concerns. In 1988, Gluckman et al. (1989) successfully performed the first human cord blood transplant in a child with Fanconi’s anemia. Since then, numerous public and private cord blood banks have been established worldwide for the cryopreservation of cord blood in view of its transplantation (Gluckman, 2011).
